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Mortal Kombat has always been known for its over-the-top, violent content. Indeed, the ESRB exists because of the series. With an abundance of gore and dismemberment to its credit, Mortal Kombat is frequently brought up in the endless debate over whether or not video games foster violence within the people who play them. Yet, for all of the hullabaloo that the likes of Scorpion and Sub-Zero have been a part of, a fresh allegation has added a new layer of scrutiny to the brand.
A designer on the cinematics team for Mortal Kombat 11, which just recently launched on Nintendo Switch, came forward anonymously to Kotaku to detail how working on the development of the game had allegedly caused him or her to suffer from PTSD. “I’d have these extremely graphic dreams, very violent,” the worker told the outlet. “I kind of just stopped wanting to go to sleep, so I’d just keep myself awake for days at a time, to avoid sleeping.”
What followed were trips to a therapist who soon diagnosed the designer with PTSD. The diagnosis was attributed to the intensely violent and disturbing research material that is needed to accurately render everything from broken bones to faces being torn off. The wealth of carnage on display all day long in the design studio was enough to spur an extreme response from this particular designer.
While one might assume that anyone going in to work on a title like Mortal Kombat should be aware of the violent imagery that the series’ fans expect, the designer in question is merely trying to point out that (allegedly) there was no protocol in place to allow anyone on the development team to alert superiors if they were beginning to feel overwhelmed by the bloodshed. There’s a stark difference between playing a game and being surrounded by it for hours every single day while actually working to create it.
As of this writing, Kotaku states that neither NetherRealm nor Warner Bros. Games have deigned to comment on the anonymous worker’s allegations. Hopefully, at some point we’ll be able to update with a reaction from one, the other, or both.
Source: Kotaku
